A blog for the United States branch of the global Centre for Fortean Zoology

At the beginning of the 21st Century monsters still roam the remote, and sometimes not so remote, corners of our planet. It is our job to search for them. The Centre for Fortean Zoology [CFZ] is - we believe - the largest professional, scientific and full-time organisation in the world dedicated to cryptozoology - the study of unknown animals. Since 1992 the CFZ has carried out an unparalleled programme of research and investigation all over the world. Since 2009 we have been running the increasingly popular CFZ Blog Network, and although there has been an American branch of the CFZ for over ten years now, it is only now that it has a dedicated blog.

1969: A curious alleged Bigfoot sighting comes to us from the
vicinity of Oroville, California. Rural resident Wes Strang reportedly sees the
creature squatting outside his home, and they spend several moments staring at
each other before Strang goes back inside to continue watching television. You
may find his photo in your dictionary, beside the definition of
"blasé."

Sunday, 30 October 2016

Hallowe'en takes place on 31st October. It is so called because it is held on the eve of the Christian feast of All Hallows, which in the Latin rite became the date of the feast of All Saints in 835.This was the same as the start of the Celtic new year, which in Gaelic was called Samhain (pronounced sowin). This came from the Celtic word samonios meaning half, as the dark half of the year was now coming in. Samhain was regarded as starting at nightfall on October 31st. This was called Samhain Night (Gaelic Oiche Shamhna, pronounced eeha howna; the ch is Scottish Gaelic is pronounced as in Bach, while it is usually just pronounced as h in Irish).This time was regarded by the Celts as dangerous because the dead and beings from the Otherworld were said to be about at this time. While non-pagans no longer regard it as a religious feast, but merely as an excuse for dressing up in scary costumes, it is still so observed by modern pagan groups.Hallowe'en was popular in Ireland and Scotland and was from those countries exported to the United States, where it enjoys some popularity. Recently, it has migrated from the United States to England, where it is possibly regarded as an American institution by many.The feast is celebrated in other Celtic areas. Thus in Wales it is called Calan Gaeaf, in Cornwall Kalan Gwaev and in Brittany Kalan Goañv.

Keep your heads down and your pets indoors for "Devil's
Night," described by Wikipedia as follows: "Devil's Night dates from
as early as the 1930s. Traditionally, city youths engaged in a night of
mischievous or petty criminal behavior, usually consisting of minor pranks or
acts of mild vandalism (such as egging, soaping or waxing windows and doors, leaving
rotten vegetables or flaming bags of Canine feces on front porch stoops, or
toilet papering trees and shrubs) which caused little or no property damage. However,
in the early 1970s, the vandalism escalated to more destructive acts such as
arson. This primarily took place in the inner city, but surrounding suburbs
were often affected as well. The crimes became more destructive in Detroit's
inner-city neighborhoods, and included hundreds of acts of arson and vandalism
every year. The destruction reached a peak in the mid- to late-1980s, with more
than 800 fires set in 1984, and 500 to 800 fires in the three days and nights
before Halloween in a typical year." Such crimes have now
"declined," they say—but will the tradition be revived after its
portrayal as a holiday for undead serial killers on American Horror Story:
Hotel?

1977: Three off-duty police officers and two teenage boys,
including one officer's son, allegedly see a Bigfoot eight to nine feet tall by
moonlight at Elkhorn Butte, northeast of Little Eagle on South Dakota's
Standing Rock Indian Reservation. The officers briefly pursue the creature,
then think better of it since none of them are armed.

2011: A retired software engineer claims a brief Bigfoot
sighting near his cabin on Bassett
Lake in Superior National Forest, near
Brimson, Minnesota. He describes it as "bigger than a human," with
"longer arms than a man."

1941: The Vancouver Province newspaper reports that "many
Indians" have piled into canoes and fled their village near Port Douglas,
at the head of British Columbia's Harrison Lake, after a Sasquatch 14 feet tall
invaded the settlement.

A report from a house, once occupied by relatives of Jesse James, of a strange phantasmal party taking place. The report is found in a newspaper article of 1892 and appeared in the Pittsburgh Press.now read on.....